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Cecilia Munoz

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Top White House And DHS Officials Attys Need ToKnow

By Allissa Wickham

Law360, New York (March 4, 2015, 8:19 PM ET) -- With the Obama administration workingovertime to breathe life into the president’s immigration actions, Law360 takes a look at keyofficials inside the White House and U.S. Department of Homeland Security whose moves willundoubtedly continue to impact the immigration landscape in the months to come.

Cecilia Munoz, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council

A top immigration adviser to President Barack Obama, CeciliaMunoz was pivotal in crafting the president’s recent executiveactions and continues to play a vital role in defending theirlegality.

The day after a Texas court temporarily blocked the new policies,which could defer deportation and provide work authorization foran estimated 4.4 million people, Munoz told reporters that theObama administration was “fully confident” that the actions areconsistent with the president’s authority.

A frequent liaison between the White House and the immigrantadvocacy community, Munoz formerly served as a senior vicepresident at the National Council of La Raza, the biggest Latinocivil rights group in the country. Her leadership in immigrants’ rights even earned her a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation grant in2000, commonly termed the “genius grant.” 

But despite her advocacy history, Munoz has weathered criticism from the activist community inrecent years, as she’s had to defend an administration that has deported an estimated 2.4 millionpeople, according to figures from the advocacy director of the American Immigration LawyersAssociation.

In 2011, for instance, Latino activist group Presente.org launched a petition asking Munoz todenounce the controversial Secure Communities program, which she had called a “powerful tool” on the White House’s blog. Under the program, the fingerprints of arrested individuals are sent tothe U.S. Department of Homeland Security in order check their immigration status.

But despite their differences, immigration activists will find Munoz in their corner over the comingmonths as the president’s executive action policies are tested in a judicial battle that mayultimately brush up against the U.S. Supreme Court.

Felicia Escobar, Special Assistant to the President for Immigration Policy

Although she has a slightly lower profile than Munoz, Felicia Escobar was another essential WhiteHouse adviser on the president’s recent immigration moves, according to Greg Siskind of Siskind

Susser PC.

 “They were kind of the main architects working on the presidents’ executive actions,” Siskind saidof Escobar and Munoz. “So, they’re pretty important right now.” 

A former congressional staffer, Escobar served as a legislative assistant to then-Sen. Ken Salazar,

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Felicia Escobar

Esther Olavarria

Mary Giovagnoli

providing advice during the immigration reform discussions thathappened roughly a decade ago. Before working on the hill, shehandled state policy at the NCLR, giving Escobar a firm footing inthe Latino advocacy world, as well.

 

Escobar now meets with stakeholders in the immigrationcommunity to develop new policy ideas and is continually workingwith different agencies to help pass comprehensive reformlegislation, she said in an recent interview with Univision.

 

Esther Olavarria, Senior Counselor to DHS Secretary JehJohnson

 

A trusted legal adviser toSecretary Jeh Johnson, EstherOlavarria is a crucial player at theheart of the DHS’ immigrationinitiatives, and she works closelywith the White House policy team,sources told Law360.

 

Olavarria brings a wealth of 

expertise to DHS, having spentroughly 10 years as Sen. EdwardKennedy’s chief counsel onimmigration before serving as thedirector of immigration policy atthe Center for American Progress.

 

More recently, Olavarria and acore crew of DHS advisers —many of whom had recently heldHill positions — have beenworking to implement the White

House’s ambitious immigration policies. 

This critical team includes DHS Deputy General Counsel David Shahoulian, a former aide for Rep.Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Serena Hoy, who served as a top adviser to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. UrMendoza Jaddou, the chief counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, also plays a rolein hammering out the implications of the new immigration initiatives, Law360 was told.

 

As the DHS continues to implement the president’s executive actions, rest assured that thatOlavarria, Shahoulian, Hoy and Jaddou will be working hard behind the scenes.

 

Mary Giovagnoli, DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Immigration Policy 

A more recent hire at DHS is Mary Giovagnoli, who left theAmerican Immigration Council in January to join the department’simmigration policy wing. That office deals with “cross-cuttingissues” and regulatory matters, said Theresa Brown of theBipartisan Policy Center.

 

A USCIS veteran, Giovagnoli served as an attorney with theagency and its predecessor, the U.S. Immigration andNaturalization Service, for over 10 years — only taking a break towork with Kennedy’s office on comprehensive immigration reformissues in 2007.

 

Giovagnoli’s familiarity with USCIS will undoubtedly come in

handy as she tackles thorny policy issues at DHS, and her hiremay signal a deliberate move by the Obama administration tobring more individuals with deep backgrounds on agencymechanics into policy decisions.

 

Denise Vanison, Chief of the Office of Policy and Strategy at USCIS 

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Denise Vanison

Maria Odom

A former partner with what was then Patton Boggs LLP, DeniseVanison heads up the USCIS’ policy office, which helps developpolicy memorandums and regulatory changes, according toBrown.

 

This will be an important office to watch as the Obamaadministration unveils executive action policies that haven’t beentotally revealed yet, like the plan to create stronger ties between

foreign graduates working in the U.S. through the OptionalPractical Training program and their universities. 

Angelo Paparelli of Seyfarth Shaw LLP noted that althoughVanison has flown under the radar for the past few years, she’s aserious player within the department.

 

 “Once she's taken that position, she's maintained a very lowprofile,” Paparelli said. “Her fingerprints aren't on much, althoughI understand she wields significant power.” 

 

Maria Odom, CIS Ombudsman 

Last on the list, but definitely not least, is Maria Odom, whoseoffice of the ombudsman is particularly important for peoplelooking for assistance with specific immigration cases.

 

Odom frequently holds calls on various immigration agencies’ handling of different visa cases, such as how USCIS and the U.S.Department of Labor are planning to process a deluge of high-skilled, H-1B visas in a short amount of time.

 

As the immigration community’s point person for day-to-day visaissues, Odom is a “must know” for an immigration attorney,especially at time when the policy field is in flux.

 --Editing by Jeremy Barker and Mark Lebetkin. 

Check back tomorrow for our list of key immigration players at the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor.

 

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